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Saw the latest Harry Potter movie last weekend. It was fine, but like the one before it, I didn't enjoy it near as much as I had the first movies. Thinking about it over the week, I've come to realize why - the later books in the series are so long, with the little sub-plots, that they'd make 4 hour movies to do a thorough job of them.
So, what's the beef? The beef is that in the movies, we get the self-absorbed, angst-ridden, angry impulsive teenager Harry (mind you, he's earned it!) and all the darkness of the books - but cutting out all the subplots (S.P.E.W. anyone? Sirius' House Elf and the whole Black family mudblood thing - heck, they cut Sirius' mother's portrait completely out of the movie) that made the books fun for me. In other words, for me, to keep the movies of a manageable length, they're cutting out exactly the parts that drew me to the series, while keeping the part (grappling with his demons like a teenager will Harry) that usually has me grinding my teeth.
The point is - with the books it works. With the movies, it leaves me disappointed. I'll be getting the book tomorrow, mind you - I like the books. But I may skip the rest of the movies.
Your mileage may vary. -the Armorer
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The Air Force makes a bold move. It shouldn't be a bold move, but in our current Military/Civil Leadership/Grievance Industry/Self-absorbed national mood it is. From Jim Dunnigan over at Strategy Page:
The U.S. Air Force has rebelled against the annoying late 20th century custom of creating many annual training courses to deal with persistent social or organizational problems. From now on, instead of spending nine hours a year attending training for things like suicide prevention, anti-terrorism awareness, handling classified data, sex related issues, and so on, only 90 minutes a year would be used for all these reminders. This move is very popular among those who have to sit through these sessions, and those who have to give them. The troops are also encouraged by such a bold move. In the past, every time another of these annual classes was added, there was grumbling about "spineless and clueless generals," and "damn politicians."
Catch the rest here, at "USAF Generals Cut the Crap." -the Armorer
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Here's a picture that should warm the heart of every cold-warrior out there: Soviet armour rusting in long lines in a "tank graveyard." - Damian
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Hah! All y'all are gonna catch up! Who knew nukes would make me a trend-setter? -the Armorer
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Snerk! Congress should compel the firearms industry to target gangs with advertising... And the alcohol and condom industry, too... -the Armorer
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Back in the day, when you could just kill people and break things without a note from a lawyer, they were pre-planned, but to the enemy, random, fires at known gathering points, road junctions, Main Supply Routes, assembly areas, etc - to keep the bad guy nervous that the world around him might start exploding at any minute.
*Not really relevant to today's operating environment, right? But, it *is*
The UAVs (oops, can't call 'em UAVs anymore - they're now Unmanned Aerial Systems... some Colonel got his Legion of Merit for that change...), er, um UAS's we fly over Afghanistan and Pakistan looking for targets of opportunity are a form of H&I fires, if you really want to parse it finely. We just have better sensors and fire control now.
I call the post that because it's random things posted by me and people I've given posting privileges to. It's also an open trackback, so if someone has a post they're proud of, but it really isn't either Castle kind of stuff, or topical to a particular post, I've basically given blanket permission to use that post for that purpose. Another term of art that might be appropriate is "Free Fire Zone"
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